If you’re not really going to Europe but you want it to seem like you are, this is the playbook. Release lots of media info, get one big guy to go, tell every reporter who asks that every member of your side is “considering it” and do as many exhibitions in other countries to generate revenue as you can. This is the perfect play to con people into thinking you’re serious about doing it.

It’s also the exact same playbook if you’re actually, you know, going to Europe. Or China. Or the Philippines, since apparently you’re a god there.

There will be no telling until players actually sign elsewhere, or don’t. But reports are coming out, like the latest from Sports Illustrated, that the players are serious about these offers, that there’s more to it than just individual players chasing salary money. It’s about hitting the owners where it hurts to move them off the hard line, it’s about leveraging the endorsement money, capitalizing on the tax-free status, and taking a cohesive approach. From SI:

It’s the unofficial kind, of course, but sources on the players’ side confirmed the obvious in recent discussions: This isn’t merely about making money, but enjoying a slice of autonomy and sending a message to the owners that their league could be forever changed if they don’t start moving off their draconian collective bargaining mark.

According to one agent of a bona fide NBA star who said he is learning more about this new landscape every day, this is just the beginning. While so much of the public focus is on the individual players and where they might sign, there are private discussions about adding components that could make it even more appealing for the game’s stars to follow in Deron Williams‘ path.

We’re left to decipher whether this is rhetoric or actual movement, if we care. The reason we should care is that if this is rhetoric, and it is revealed as such, it’s yet another nail the owners will put in the players’ coffin. If it’s real movement, if it’s legitimate, it’s an actual strategy that might work. If it works, the owners might feel a shiver up their spines in those comfy, seat-warmed recliners of theirs. That can move the league off the front line and into the negotiations tent, which is where this thing should be kept anyway.

The big issues revolve around whether this is feasible. Most believe it’s not. It’s incomprehensible. How can a player risk his career like this? Well, considering they don’t have a career if the owners don’t get off the line, that’s not so much of a risk. The teams won’t actually pay the players, right? So they’re all going to fail to pay, all of them, all at once. Thats’ the idea?

This is becoming more possible every day, in theoretical terms. But skeptics won’t start to believe it until they see backs in jerseys in foreign languages. Only they’re not foreign there. Okay, you get what I mean.

Even if a ton of players go overseas it won’t last. They won’t be able to handle it. There isn’t one all-star NBA player that will make nearly the amount of money overseas as they do here. These guys will all miss home and want to be back.